LNP Government under new leadership! No Opposition for Gladys Berejiklian No Change in Policies.

THE MINI HOUSE.

The LNP NSW Government wants to put the Power House Museum in Parramatta, it will not be a big Power House, and it will be called “the mini house”, why because it will be 25% of the size of the Sydney Power House, a small cottage museum. Parramatta could have and deserve a “Museum of Australian Identity” this is a vision that although at the moment is just a seed of an idea, but a government with vision could get behind the people of NSW and investigate the idea, of course this would save millions of dollars by not moving the specially built and designed Power House in Sydney. Here are the current plans http://architectureau.com/articles/site-chosen-for-new-powerhouse-museum-in-parramatta/

Parramatta Memorial Pool which was dedicated to the soldiers of World Wars will cost millions of dollars to destroy and then rebuild, the LIBERAL NATIONAL PARTY government of NSW have no plans, no money, expect the Parramatta ratepayers to pay up again, then the Parramatta Administrator Amanda Chadwick and the NSW Government want to build an artificial lake instead of a pool for training kids how to swim, how is that for planning. The ratepayers of Parramatta will not have a pool for at least two seasons and maybe three, and with the current heat waves and the level of drowning, that could be fatal. All they need to save all that is move the Stadium upgrade a few metres like a plan a couple of years ago, how about that for common sense. This is what Parramatta will have in the heart of Parramatta.

The LNP NSW Government wants to destroy the North Parramatta Convict precinct by cutting it up, putting light rail through and smothering it with high rise. Instead they could create a precinct that would bring in millions of tourist dollars both for Parramatta and NSW. How about that idea for the economy. Have a look at what is provided to tell tourists about the area. Zilch, nothing, local and State tour guides do not know what is available, most Australian people do know about the Parramatta Female Factory.

The LNP NSW Government are chopping up the World Listed Parramatta Park, the current Park Committee, has no historian, no heritage representative, no idea of preserving the park for future use and green space, they want to put a stadium on part of the Park which is Crown Land, it will be a concrete car park with commercial businesses. Lucy Turnbull says that the Park is one of her favourite places, well Gladys show Lucy what you are made of and help the NSW communities save our precious gems in NSW instead of selling them to fund development. They have also mooted to have a Lagoon on the old Golf course.

Gladys Berejiklian is the current Treasurer of New South Wales and Minister for Industrial Relations in the second Baird government. She is also the Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party. She will be sworn in on Monday 23rd January 2017

If the current government is smart and the members of it listen to the people of NSW, they would be office for a very long time, but the the current policies of council amalgamation, sale of public assets, privatisation of Crown Land, destruction of suburbs by uncontrolled high rise developments which will turn into the slums of the future, just to name a few will see them swept to oblivion by a Trump like result.

Gladys, you need to take the road of common sense, you need to consult with your community and listen to what they are saying, you need to heed Aboriginal Heritage, Colonial Heritage, and Unique Heritage and protect them by legislation, not sell them but lease them. That is the future for you, for the community and for New South Wales and Australia.

When you local member is representing the Baird Government instead of the people who supply his wages, the City of Parramatta has a problem. Geoff Lee (photographed here by the Western Sydney Business Access, who incidentally has given him space on numerous occasions, while we are aware that this media member writes for business, it does not write both sides of the story. The publication is in favour of the developers and the Baird Government agenda. WSBA does not have balanced reporting. It tells the business community what they think the business people of Parramatta want to here.

Does it tell you that to accomplish this development it needs to steal a bit more of our Crown Land, Our World Heritage Listed Parramatta Park?

Does it tell you that to give you a facility that is only used by footballers that when Venues NSW did the Environmental Study that the football teams were the only ones who were consulted?

Does WSBA tell you that to put this development up that the residents and ratepayers will lose the only pool in Parramatta, a pool that they have spent over $8 million dollars a couple of years back.

Do they tell you that there are no future plans to rebuild the Parramatta Memorial Swimming Pool or any funds set aside.

Do they tell you a plan done about two years ago, would have given us a new larger Stadium and also kept the pool intact for our citizens and our schools.This is where you will have to swim if Venues NSW get their way. This is not good enough for Parramatta, we as residents need a city, we can live in, places where we can go to cool off, walk in open green spaces and not concrete jungles, surrounded by high rise glass boxes, we need to be able breath.

We need our elected representatives back, we need a voice, we need to be heard, and we need our concerns met. We do not need our rights taken away and have to fight to get them back, so Geoff Lee we need you to represent us, not sell us out, and Mr Baird, we need you to protect our facilities and not sell us out.

If you were paying good money to tour Australia would you put this venue on your plans to visit?????????????

Let us look at what makes a City attractive to the overseas Tourist. A trip from the City of Sydney to Parramatta by the River Cat, first of all if you are in a group or just a couple you need to purchase a $10 Opal Card, because that is all you can buy. You arrive at Parramatta, if you have not organised a local Tour operator to pick you up, and you don’t know the sites, you walk to Westfield, have a coffee and then back to the Ferry to go back to Sydney. If you are lucky enough to find the information centre, a young assistant tells you, no we do not have any history in Parramatta.

And why is this so, well the City of Parramatta Council has had the ratepayer’s elected representatives sacked. The council is under Administration, Amanda Chadwick and the staff was supposed to continue with the business of the area. But NO!!!! Amanda has been hand picked by Premier Mike Baird. So what is his agenda? It is to assist the developers to build on every spare piece of land in the Parramatta LGA. Will you be able to have a swim on a hot day in Parramatta, NO!!!!! why? Because Mike Baird has approved a new stadium (the best in the west) and wants to demolish the War Memorial Swimming Pool, and has no funds or plans to rebuild it, and the ratepayers are out of pocket.

Will you be able to visit a first class Convict built historical place like the Fleet Street Heritage Precinct? NO!!!!!!!!! Why, because Mike Baird and his developer mates want to build high rise glass boxes, smothering the area. Is there a first class Museum in Parramatta which tells the rich history of the area NO!!!!!! Why, because Mike Baird wants to move the PowerHouse Museum to Parramatta, but it will not be a PowerHouse, it will be a LittleHouse, Why, because it is planned to be 25% of the size of the original one in Ultimo and the site chosen is flood prone. Why, because Mike Baird wants to sell the Ultimo site for high rise.

Can you take a tour around Parramatta and see the sites? NO!!!!!!!!!! why because most areas are not coach friendly, no public toilets readily available to coaches, no place that caters for meals for coach tours, no signs, no planned Tourist strategy. And why you might ask, because no one is interested in bringing tourists to Parramatta. The NSW government thinking is more high rise, higher immigration, more cars, clogged roads every night and no jobs for our citizens. You might ask how are our present ratepayers are coping, to put it simply they are very mad.

Is their local Member Geoff Lee concerned, NO!!!!!!!!!!! why, he is perfectly happy with the way things are going.

The Greater Sydney Commission set up by the Baird Government is made up of people who can use their power and influence to squash the residents of Sydney into submission. The worst thing is they are using our assets and taxes to do this. NSW is not a democracy but a dictatorship, run by people who have no interests in or knowledge of the Heritage of Sydney or Parramatta.

Let us look at the holdings of the Turnbull’s, the couple reside in Sydney, with an additional property in Hunter Valley, an apartment in Canberra when they are not in The Lodge. They also own an apartment in New York City. The couple are independently wealthy. Mrs Turnbull is a figure head of the GSC, her task is to sell the government’s plan to sell our assets, build high rise glass boxes on every space, destroy as much of our heritage and our children’s legacy as they can, until our City have nothing left. Despite many requests for a meeting to discuss this topic, no answer is always forthcoming, tight deadlines for submissions, adds are placed on the second last page of the local papers and it is always done when they think we are distracted, like the Christmas Break for instance. Now let us analyse why this happens. Watch this video, a little long, but these plans were put in place years ago The Perfect Storm

District Commissioner West Central Professor Ed Blakely. His Profile reads like this…..

US and international urban policy, US domestic policy with emphasis on race, class and socioeconomic issues, global urban agendas on sustainability, global warming, development economics with particular background in South America, China, Japan, Europe, Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

Edward Blakely is Chair of the Future Cities Collaborative at the US Studies Centre and serves as a District Commissioner on the Greater Sydney Commission. He previously served for two years as Executive Director of the Office of Recovery and Development Administration, the “recovery czar” for New Orleans following the devastation of hurricane Katrina. The question, is what is his knowledge of the issues, needs and the heritage of the district he is serving.

Robert (Rob) Gordon Stokes MP

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws, Doctor of Philosophy (Law), Diploma of Biblical Studies, Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW. Stokes was an associate with the law firm David Begg & Associates in Martin Place Sydney. He also worked in a number of other legal firms including one at Mona Vale. He subsequently became a lecturer in the Division of Law at Macquarie University. He became a member of the Young Lawyers Association of New South Wales and was a member of both the Environmental Law and CLE Committees.

Geoff Lee MP Member for Parramatta.

Geoff Lee was born in 1967 and has an Australian and Chinese background. He attained a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in horticulture from the University of Western Sydney Hawkesbury Campus and was managing director of Hambledon Garden Centre, a garden centre and landscaping business in Parramatta from 1992 until 2001. He completed his Master of Business from the Macquarie University School of Business Administration in 2001 and commenced teaching part-time at Liverpool TAFE from 2004 to 2006, Lee was a lecturer in business at the University of Western Sydney and, during this time, completed a Doctor of Business Administration degree at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. In 2007, he was appointed Associate Dean (Engagement) at UWS. Photograph Daily Telegraph.

Premier Mike Baird MP.

Baird attended The King’s School, Parramatta, and spent time living in the USA whilst his father served as head of the Australia trade commission in New York. Baird graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. Baird also studied at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, initially intending to enter the Anglican ministry, but while there decided a career in investment banking and later politics. In 1999, he successfully sought preselection for the seat of Manly. Baird then returned to investment banking, working for the National Australia Bank for a time in London, before returning to Sydney to work for the HSBC Australia. But of course now Mr Baird has started the avalanche of destruction, he has resigned the Parliament.

Now we are looking at Gladys Berejiklian as the new Premier who has promised us she will do everything that Mike Baird did but more, sales of the people’s assets, more infrastructure, privatisation of Crown Land, and build more high rise for overseas investors.

Gladys has not mentioned her vision for Heritage and certainly does not know what Parramatta has, some tour guide should give her a days tour of Parramatta to see the potential “Tourism Dollars” if she is game to take on the current system of decision makers that Mr Baird has set in place.

Now, you ask what are these lot of people making decisions on our precious history and heritage, they are not interested in the subject or the people involved, they have not studied the subject or read stories, they do not or cannot tell the stories of the past, and has never explored or even visited the area they are in charge of, then what are they interested in and what is the common theme that these people are interested in? The answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is money.

The question therefore has to be asked why a fellow that has no experience in design becomes the State Architect in Charge of the “Architects Office” of course the answer is a very simple one. You have a NSW Government that does not believe in saving out heritage and wants to sell it at any price. And that the original State Officer “Francis Greenway” is relegated to the $10 Note.

Francis Greenway (1777-1837), architect, was born at Mangotsfield, near Bristol, England, son of Francis Greenway and Ann, née Webb. The Greenways had been stonemasons, builders and architects in the west country for generations. Francis was in private practice as an architect in Bristol when in March 1812 he was found guilty of forging a document.

He was sentenced to death but the penalty was later changed to transportation for fourteen years. He arrived in Sydney in February 1814 in the transport General Hewitt, and was followed in July by his wife Mary, whom he had married about 1804, and three children in the Broxbornebury.

This is what the community is facing NSW from the State Government, no longer is heritage a precious commodity to be saved for the future use of the people, but a treasure to be sold, it is ironic then that poor old Francis is put on our currency, for that is what is happening.

Peter Poulet the current State Architect presides over the work of the heritage destroyers Urban Growth, which is the development arm of the State, but managed by young inexperienced people who think that a visit by the Premier or minister to announce a grand plan of destruction, is the best thing ever. Urban Growth have lodged a development application with the ADMINISTRATOR APPOINTED BY THE BAIRD GOVERNMENT AT PARRAMATTA, which will slice the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct into three to sell off to the highest bidder. Photo courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.

The office of the State Architect has been dumbed down, this office has been the powerhouse for 200 years, it has now been reduced to an artists studio, not a design of grand buildings in sight, and the NSW community are fighting for their very life to stop the destruction of their heritage for the history and the future economy of NSW and Australia.

The problem with all of this is that when it is sold, when it is destroyed by high rise buildings, there will be nothing left that can bring tourists revenue to Parramatta. If the politicians including Geoff Lee the local member had an original thought that was sold by some one like Francis Greenway, they could see what a potential Tourism site this could be a desired destination of tourists from all over the world, it would boost the Parramatta economy for many years to come. But NO, Mr Lee has been advised (wrongly) that he will get the site World Heritage Listed after the site has been destroyed, not so Mr Lee, not so.

Never has there been a concentrated effort to sell off Public Land in Parramatta. Democracy is Dead and Buried in NSW. The Parramatta Residents turned out in good numbers to protest the move from the State Government to remove all means of our Democracy. Parramatta City Council had decided to fight numerous items before they were dismissed and replaced by Amanda Chadwick and her side kick Sue Wetherby. You may remember that the community lost the fight to put the portholes in the fake part of the Lennox bridge built in 1839. The result looks like a really bad add on, most photographers do not use the port holes when framing their photographs.

Geoff Lee the State member for Parramatta is also agreeing with Baird, Turnbull and Blakely, to sell off or destroy the assets that the ratepayers have paid for, in the city. Why don’t these people listen to the residents of Parramatta, are they drawing wages from the Ratepayers of Parramatta City and the Taxpayers of NSW. Why are they treating the Ratepayers and Taxpayers like a cash cow.

One of the groups fighting this sell off is the North Parramatta Residents Group, the only group who is doing something about this wholesale slaughter, they have successfully created a network of people who are quietly working their way into the underbelly of the political parties, the pen is mightier that the sword my friends.

And we might ask what happened to the plans that were raised a couple of years ago that allowed the War Memorial Pool to remain on CROWN LAND, but still allow the Stadium to expand. The Parramatta Park Trust had no right to give Venues NSW permission to take over our World Heritage Listed Park Land. Who is getting the contracts, who is making the money out of this, it is certainly not the tax payers and the ratepayers. We need to add a performance Clause to the conditions of the people who are making these decisions.

There is no democracy in NSW at all, the NSW Government has decided to sell off Public Land put aside by the “Crown” for the future use of the community. this affects as many as seven sites in Parramatta, this is happening during the forced council amalgamations, when Parramatta is run by a Baird Government appointee Amanda Chadwick.

There is a plan by Baird the members of his government to deny all rights of the people in NSW to protest, or have their concerns raised, the public meeting held to discuss the problems of the Moxham site was effectively determined even before the meeting started. The community was told that the State would do whatever it wanted despite what they were worried about. Recently Pittwater was put through this type of process, despite many objections they were overruled by the Baird Government. This video shows how the GSC and the Department of Planning work together.

An American Professor, Chairman of the JRPP and now Commission Chairman for Lucy Turnbull’s Greater Sydney Commission has effectively recommended the rezoning the Moxham Quarry Wetland at Northmead, (this site is the State Seat of Seven Hills, Liberal Party Member Mark Taylor is the sitting local member), Parramatta for High Density Housing…..

The State Planning Department officer sat and gave her views on the flawed EIS statements agreeing with them even thought speakers pointed out the flaws, there were no independent studies as you expect for a development, she agreed with the proponent and was spoke against the myriad of local residents, and past Councillors of Parramatta City Council who has fought since 1999 to stop this Quarry from being destroyed. Even the rich Aboriginal history has been ignored by this bloke from America.

The Quarry was abandoned in the 1950’s due to the miners hitting the aquifer, sand stone finds is not waterproof, no cap will hold it, it will seep out somewhere else. If built the community on the Wetland would be have a bigger threat from bush fires, one road in and out will put lives at risk.

Something is on the nose in NSW, the community needs supporting, we call for an inquiry into the sale of Public Land, the community won “Talus” and “Rutledge” is a force to be reckoned with, it is about time that some one takes a hard close look at what is going on.